Congress passes US$9.7 billion in Sandy flood aid

AP, Washington

The new US Congress on Friday rushed out US$9.7 billion to help pay flood insurance claims to 115,000 people and businesses afflicted by Hurricane Sandy, two days after New Jersey’s governor and other northeast Republicans upbraided Speaker John Boehner for killing a broader package for state and local governments in the storm’s path.

The bill replenishes the National Flood Insurance Program that was due to run out of money next week with the pending Sandy-related claims as well as 5,000 unresolved claims from other floods.

“It’s a small down payment on the larger aid we need,” Senator Chuck Schumer said.

The legislation cleared the Senate by a voice vote following passage by the House, 354 to 67.

The government has already spent about US$2 billion on the emergency response to the late October storm, one of the worst ever in the northeast. It slammed the Atlantic coastline from North Carolina to Maine, with the worst damage occurring in New York City and its suburbs, New Jersey and Connecticut. The storm is blamed for 140 deaths.

Boehner has promised a vote Jan. 15 on a broader, US$51 billion package of aid, which would bring the total to the more than US$60 billion requested by US President Barack Obama. Senate leaders have promised a vote the following week.

The Senate passed a US$60.4 billion bill a week ago, but House Republicans, complaining that it was laden with pork projects unrelated to the storm, cut it by more than half.

Boehner canceled a New Year’s Day vote on it after nearly two-thirds of House Republicans voted against the “fiscal cliff” package of tax and spending increases.

The White House praised Friday’s vote helping homeowners, renters and businesses, and urged Congress to act quickly on the remainder of Obama’s request.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a joint statement also imploring Congress to move hastily on the rest of the money.

“We are trusting Congress to act accordingly on January 15th,” they said.

It was a more temperate response than was heard earlier in the week, when a livid Christie blistered House Republicans and Boehner himself for holding up the aid and other Republican figures from the region, as well as Democrats, cried “betrayal.”

All of the “no” votes in the House were cast by Republicans, who said other government programs should have been cut to pay for the measure. As with past natural disasters, the Sandy aid proposals do not provide for offsetting spending cuts, meaning the aid comes at the cost of higher deficits.

The bill gives more authority to the National Flood Insurance Program to borrow money from the US Treasury to pay claims. Premiums average about US$625 per year and residential claims under the program average nearly US$30,000.

US House Representative Tim Huelskamp, a fiscal conservative who voted against the flood bill, said he was among those with concerns it would add to huge budget deficits.

The Club For Growth, a conservative group, urged lawmakers to oppose the flood insurance bill.

“Congress should not allow the federal government to be involved in the flood insurance industry in the first place, let alone expand the national flood insurance program’s authority,” the group said in a statement.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency had warned that the flood insurance program would run out of money next week if Congress did not provide additional borrowing authority.